Top triathlon star never feels like doing another IRONMAN after Cairns experience ends in a wheelchair

South Africa’s finest Jamie Riddle faced adversity at IRONMAN Cairns on Sunday and had to dig so deep it left him shattered.

So shattered in fact that he confessed afterwards in an emotional Instagram post that he feels like never competing at the distance again. He accompanied his post with an image of him being taken away from the finish area in a wheelchair, clearly utterly exhausted.

Olympian Riddle, who is ranked the No 1 triathlete in his nation and ran 70.3 events last year, was in Queensland to win – but his body failed him twice and he eventually came home fourth behind US winner Matthew Marquardt.

The ‘lights went out’ for Riddle

He said: “They say give it time before commenting on a day which brings you disappointment, but to be honest, I have never been one to shy away from being real & authentic.

“I came to win this race & I put it all on the line, just like I always do… I have no answers as to what happened around 150km on the bike, but the lights went out seeing me lose over 10 minutes in just 30km.

“In this period, I had decided to throw in the towel, but still pay my respects to the crowd and my supporters by running one lap of the run. It was here were I found the will to fight and fight I did.

“I found myself in third with a few km to go until again, the body said no & this time, i was truly empty.

“Ironman is extremely difficult, as of right now, I feel like never doing one again, but something inside of me tells me that won’t be the case.”

Riddle also made sure to praise Aussie Nick Thompson, who finished second behind Marquardt, with Finland’s Henrik Goesch in third.

Jamie praises rival

He said: “First & foremost, @nick_thompson00 you are a stand out lad & I am beyond happy for you, it’s time to start believing in yourself mate.”

But while Riddle was obviously at a low point when he posted, he is unlikely to actually go through with his threat to quit the sport.

He said: “I’ll have more to say in the coming days as perspective sets in, because fourth amongst INCREDIBLE athletes is something I am proud of & the effort I gave, man that makes me proud.”

Cairns was actually his best result of the season so far after fifth-place finishes at his Ironman debut in South Africa and his T100 debut in San Francisco but he clearly had much higher expectations in Australia.